An Interface Between SLA and Language Testing - The Effects of Processability on Proficiency

An Interface Between SLA and Language Testing

  This study attempted to examine the effects of language processability (i.e., parallel developmental stages of the Parallel Developmental Sequence (PDS) (Kim & Kwon, 2005, 2007) on grammar (GR) and reading comprehension (RC). To see if there is a relationship between the rating scales on the processability and the scores on the GR and the RC test of the TEPS, the  Spearman Correlation Test and the Kruskal-Wallis Test were conducted. The result of the correlation test proved highly positive correlations between the parallel stages of the PDS and proficiency, and the result of the Kruskal-Wallis Test showed a statistical difference in order of mean ranks of the GR and the RC test among the stages of the PDS. The GR proficiency curve showed a direct-ratio increase pattern, meaning that grammatical proficiency is sensitive to processability except for one stage between 2X² and 3X² on the PDS. On the other hand, the RC proficiency curve displayed an alternate increase and plateau pattern, indicating that reading proficiency is not sensitive to processability, thus this incurring the testing plateaus between stage 2X and 1X² and between stage 2X² and 4X² on the PDS. Based on these findings, this study provided a way of developing a test in which all the tasks or items are at the exact level of difficulty appropriate for test takers, thus minimizing testing plateaus, in terms of an SLA-testing interface model called the Common Metric Scale (CMS) Model (Kim, 2006c).